The occasional indulgence is one thing, but these unbelievably expensive foods take luxury to a whole new level. From a watermelon that costs thousands to ultra-rare truffles sniffed out by trained pigs and butter that only top chefs are allowed to buy, these are the most expensive foods in the world.
Click or scroll through our gallery to discover the world’s most lavish food items, counting down to the most expensive of all.
All dollar amounts are USD, unless specified, and the conversions are based on rates at the time of going to press. Prices have been adjusted for inflation, where relevant.
At £6.50 ($8) for an 8.5fl oz (250ml) bottle, mares’ milk from Cromwell Farm in Somerset, England is more than 40 times the price of regular cows’ milk. At current exchange rates, it’s believed to be the world’s most expensive milk – costing slightly more than Japan’s Nakazawa milk, which is famously collected once a week at dawn. The mares’ milk comes from horses free to roam in wildflower-strewn pastures, and is said to be low fat and easier to digest than cows’ milk.
It was Michelin-starred chef Thomas Keller who put this (very) small-batch butter on the map. The man behind California’s The French Laundry tried it – and asked its producer, Diane St. Clair, to send him all of it. The creamery is now under new ownership and supplies a handful of exclusive restaurants. Otherwise, the yolk-yellow butter is only on general sale for very limited runs throughout the year. It costs a whopping $60 (£48) for 1lb (0.5kg), but always sells out.
This ultra-premium extra virgin olive oil from Greece is renowned for its distinct fruit flavour and low acidity. It's made from Koroneiki olives, which are pressed the very same day as they are picked to better retain their intense fresh and fruity qualities. A 17fl oz (500ml) bottle will cost you around £68 ($84), while bespoke creations can cost a staggering £10,878 ($13,397).
Fugu is a delicacy in Japan, but parts of the unusual-looking fish, also known as a blowfish or pufferfish, are extremely poisonous, so only highly trained, licensed chefs are allowed to prepare and serve it. Fugu is banned within the European Union but is available in the US, South Korea and Japan. In the latter, it typically sells anywhere between JP¥15,000 (£80/$100) and JP¥20,000 (£100/$130) per 2.2lbs (1kg) at auction.
High in antioxidants and caffeine, matcha green tea powder is finely ground and can be used in a variety of bakes and fresh juices. It also adds a complex, earthy sweetness to ice cream and other desserts. You can expect to pay as much as £230 ($286) per 2.2lbs (1kg) for ceremonial grade matcha green tea powder.
Pure vanilla is second only to saffron when it comes to the priciest spices by weight. Madagascar, Mexico and Indonesia are the largest producers of this sought-after ingredient. Growing and harvesting is very labour-intensive, as the vanilla flowers have to be hand-pollinated, and the fruit must be hand-picked once ripe. You can expect to pay around £255 ($317) for 2.2lbs (1kg) of Madagascan vanilla beans.
Beef from Wagyu cattle is prized for its rich flavour and tender texture, and it's one luxury that many people are willing to splash out on. You’ll find various varieties of Wagyu – like Kobe, raised in the Hyogo region of Japan – in steakhouses, sushi restaurants and at specialist butchers around the world. High-grade Wagyu can cost up to £380 ($473) for 2.2lbs (1kg), and the rarest steak in the world, olive Wagyu, can be as much as £260 ($323) for just one steak.
How much is too much for a bar of chocolate? Prestigious bean-to-bar chocolate maker To’ak released the most expensive bar ever in 2023 – costing a staggering $490 (£398) for just 1.7oz (50g). To’ak specialises in producing limited edition bars of single-origin dark chocolate made from the world’s rarest and most prized cacao variety, the Ecuadorian Nacional. This record-breaking release – part of its Masters Series – features a bar made from a rare blend of two vintage editions of To’ak chocolate, matured for eight years. Presented in a handcrafted box, with packaging inspired by Ecuadorian artist Oswaldo Guayasamín, it includes an original print, tasting utensils and a 60-page information booklet.
It may come at a price, but honey from bees that pollinate manuka bushes is believed to cure everything from sore throats to superbugs. A word of caution: make sure you’re getting the real deal. Look for a UMF (Unique Manuka Factor) rating of 10+ or more on the label. Manuka honey of the highest grade can be sold for around £400 ($498) per 2.2lbs (1kg).
You might not think of potatoes as a luxury food, but these posh spuds are usually sold for around £400 ($500) for 2.2lbs (1kg). La Bonnotte potatoes grow only in the mineral-rich soil of the small French island of Noirmoutier and are in season for around a week in early May. They're harvested by hand three months after planting and have a distinctive salty, lemony flavour that's said to pair well with another pricey product: caviar.
Even though abalones can be caught in many places around the world, it's a very complicated process. These molluscs are also extremely endangered, so some countries impose a strict limit on how many fishing crews can catch per day. Renowned for their delicious meat, these sea snails are some of the most expensive shellfish you can eat, costing as much as £435 ($540) per 2.2lbs (1kg). Due to the heavy shell protecting the edible part, that translates to just under 9oz (250g) of the actual meat.
These green tips of the hop plant aren't used by brewers, but a growing status as a cult ingredient has given them a serious price tag. Just 2.2lbs (1kg) of these shoots have been known to go for around £870 ($1,000), making them the most expensive vegetable in the world. It's the way they're harvested that makes them so pricey. Hop plants don't grow in uniform rows, which makes for very lengthy and labour-intensive picking. While the raw product tastes a bit like nettles and is very astringent, when cooked the shoots become slightly nutty, and have a similar texture to samphire.
Kopi luwak is collected from the droppings of wild civet cats that prowl Indonesian coffee plantations at night, feasting on ripe coffee cherries. The cats can’t digest the beans, so workers collect their precious droppings, which are then washed, pounded, dried and roasted. Often touted as the rarest and most expensive coffee in the world, kopi luwak is not without controversy; some farmers keep the civets in appalling conditions in a bid to attract tourists, who shell out as much as £1,044 ($1,300) for 2.2lbs (1kg) of the coffee.
A creamy smoked white cheese from Serbia, this delicacy can be sold for around £1,044 ($1,300) per 2.2lbs (1kg). It's made from the milk of endangered Balkan donkeys in a sanctuary in Zasavica, with the profits going back into the reserve. It takes 25 litres (44 pints) of donkey milk to make 2.2lbs (1kg) of the sought-after cheese.
The world's most prized watermelon, the Densuke is a black-skinned variety that's grown in Japan. Densuke plants are rare and each one produces a relatively small number of fruits. Grown in Toma on the island of Hokkaido, the intensely sweet and crunchy watermelons weigh around 8lbs (3.6kg) per fruit. Its price fluctuates year to year, with the most expensive ever sold at auction in 2008 when one sold for a staggering JP¥650,000 (around £3,100/$6,100 at the time).
The most expensive ham in the world comes from Iberian hogs, which devour around 15lbs (7kg) of acorns every day. Once butchered, jamón Ibérico is hung for at least two years, resulting in a dark red meat that’s sweet, nutty and melt-in-your-mouth tender. You can expect to pay anything from around £450 ($560) to as much as £3,900 ($4,829) for approximately 18lbs (8kg) of bone-in jamón Ibérico de bellota.
Ayam Cemani chickens (an unusual Indonesian breed) are completely black, from their feathers to their muscles, organs and even blood. Believed to have magical powers, their meat is said to bring good fortune and cure various illnesses. The chickens are highly sought after in Indonesia and elsewhere, with unsexed chicks typically selling for around £175 ($217). Breeding pairs are known to go for as much as £4,015 ($5,000).
Pure beluga caviar is extremely rare, commanding huge prices whenever it’s available. It’s a delicacy of salt-cured fish eggs, harvested from sturgeon living in the Caspian, Adriatic and Black Seas. Wild fishing of sturgeon is now banned due to over-fishing and unsustainable harvests, so most beluga caviar available now is sourced from caviar farms. Small 3.5oz (100g) pots of 000 grade royal beluga caviar can go for as high as £470 ($584).
Matsutake mushrooms (or mattake for short) are facing extinction in Japan’s Okinawa region due to an increase in nematodes in the soil, which can kill the pine trees these mushrooms grow under. The amount harvested has fallen sharply in recent years, hiking up the price of the delicacy even more. Still, there are plenty of people willing to shell out around £1,770 ($2,200) per 2.2lbs (1kg) for the highest-grade mushrooms, which are associated with longevity and considered to be an important symbol of Japan's changing seasons. In October 2023, it was reported that just three mushrooms sold at auction in Japan for an impressive JP¥930,000 (£4,780/$6,000).
Used in bird's nest soup, swiftlet nests are notoriously expensive – and controversial. Made by cave swiftlets, which bind moss, seaweed and feathers with their saliva, the nests can sell from anywhere between SGD $2,000 (£1,181/$1,469) to SGD $10,000 (£6,031/$7,343) per 2.2lbs (1kg) - the equivalent of around 120 nests. Unethical practices carried out by irresponsible farmers have prompted import restrictions and regulations from governing bodies in countries such as China, who have also introduced strict rules to improve the safety and traceability of the goods.
The Italian city of Modena is famous for many things, from sports cars to medieval history, but its most prized export is aceto balsamico di Modena – balsamic vinegar. Various Modena balsamic vinegars are available at most supermarkets, though the priciest is Giuseppe Giusti’s 100-year-old balsamic vinegar. It's aged in cherry wood barrels and distilled to perfection according to traditions passed down through generations of vinegar specialists. A 3.5fl oz (100ml) bottle of this vinegar sells for around £640 ($796).
The world's most expensive spice, saffron is mainly grown in Iran, which produces more than 90% of the global demand. Each crocus sativus flower produces about three red stigmas. It takes 50,000-75,000 flowers, and 40 hours of hand-picking to produce just 1lb (450g) of saffron. It's not then surprising to find out that the spice can be sold for as much as £7,995 ($10,000) per 2.2lbs (1kg).
Alba white truffles are a gourmet delight found in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, and their high price, currently around £550 ($684) per 3.5oz (100g), is due to their unpredictable growth habits. They're usually in season between October and January, but no one has been able to domesticate them – meaning trained dogs and pigs are required to sniff them out.
Thought to have originated in Ethiopia, Geisha coffee was discovered in the 1930s and later grown in Panama. The coffee gained global attention in 2004 when its aromatic and floral flavour achieved the highest score in the Best of Panama coffee contest. It's been breaking its own records ever since, fetching its highest-ever price to date in August 2023, when a washed Geisha sold for $10,005 (£8,046) per 2.2g (1kg) at auction.
Produced in Japan’s Ishikawa prefecture, top-quality Ruby Roman grapes grow to the size of ping-pong balls, and are extremely rare. Some years, only one bunch meets the premium-class standard. In 2018, the record for the most expensive bunch of grapes was broken as 24 Ruby Roman grapes sold for JP¥1.2m (£8,800/$10,908).
Officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the most expensive caviar in the world, 2.2lbs (1kg) of Almas caviar can cost upwards of £20,000 ($25,012). It comes from rare albino sturgeons. These fish, which live in the clear waters of the southern Caspian Sea, are around 60 years old when they produce golden yellow eggs that are prized for their exquisite flavour.
Juicy and sweet, Japanese Yubari King melons are hybrids of two varieties of more reasonably priced cantaloupes. Sold in pairs, and weighing around 2.9lbs (1.3kg) each, they’re considered a lavish gift in Japan. In 2023, a pair reportedly sold for JP¥3.5m (£17,990/$22,500). It was the second-highest price ever sold, following another pair which sold for JP¥5m in 2019. Adjusted for inflation, that works out around JP¥5.4m (£27,745/$34,713) in today's money.
Edible gold is one of the most expensive culinary indulgences around. Like calcium and iron, gold is a mineral that’s safe to eat, and it's often sprinkled into glasses of Champagne or layered onto cakes for elaborate decoration. Made from 23- or 24-carat gold, it’s available in the form of dust, flakes and leaves. It costs around £29 ($36) per 100mg, which equates to around £290,000 ($362,834) per 2.2lbs (1kg).
A dark oolong tea that grows only in the rocky soil of China's Wuyi Mountains, Da Hong Pao has a robust sweetness, with lingering woody notes that make it particularly sought after. While reasonably good-quality tea that's not from original trees can be bought for around £86 ($107) for 2.2lbs (1kg), aged and antique versions can reach eye-watering prices. Back in 2002, a collector was willing to shell out CN¥180,000 (around £22,500/$28,000) for just 0.7oz (20g) of tea from one of the original Da Hong Pao mother trees. If sold at the same price today, it would work out to around CN¥291,587 (£32,160/$40,241), adjusted for inflation.
Atlantic bluefin tuna, known for its tender pinkish-red meat, is often used in sushi and sashimi. Although the fish is now listed as an endangered species, it's still extremely sought after. In 2020, a 608lb (276kg) tuna was sold for JP¥193m (around £1.45m/$1.8m) to sushi tycoon Kiyoshi Kimura at an auction in Tokyo's Toyosu fish market. It was the second highest-ever price paid for bluefin tuna (after Kimura's JP¥333.6m (£2.5m/$3.1m) purchase the previous year).